Changing policies, challenging theories and persisting inequalities: Social disparities in cultural participation in France from 1981 to 2008

Based on a comparison of the French cultural practices surveys of 1981 and 2008, this article shows a strong inertia of the structuring principles of the inequalities in cultural participation—despite the changes that occurred meanwhile in cultural policies. Beyond the theoretical controversies in the sociology of culture that developed during this same period, the retrospective analysis also suggests the prevalence of class inequalities that neither reduces to a simple inequality in the volume of cultural consumption nor to a simple opposition between highbrow and lowbrow repertoires, but rather should be considered as a combination of the two.

► Comparison of the French cultural practices surveys of 1981 and 2008. ► Multicorrespondance analysis on 1981 respondents with projection of 2008 respondents. ► Shows relative inertia of social disparities in cultural participation in France. ► Demonstrates the persisting structuring power of class. ► Social differentiation of cultural attitudes a combination of openness and legitimacy.